


honestas ante honores

by RyDyKG



Series: mortal in grace [3]
Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Angels & Demons, Alternate Universe - Gods & Goddesses, BAMF F1NN5TER, Blind Character, Changelings, Dimension Travel, Elk Hybrid Zelk, Family Bonding, Found Family, Gender-Neutral Pronouns, Genderfluid F1NN5TER, Hybrids, Idots supremacy!!, MegaPVP is Slenderman, Multi, Multiple pronouns used for Finn btw, Mute MegaPVP, Neopronouns, No Beta, Queerplatonic Relationships, Sign Language, Swearing, angel skeppy, demon badboyhalo, idots, that’s referring to one of finn’s moms in here, why does ao3 have those character tags for Skeppy & BBH
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:41:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,457
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28087896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RyDyKG/pseuds/RyDyKG
Summary: (alternate title: honesty before glory)Tommy is the first mortal to have gotten the attention of gods without prior knowledge of their existence, but he is not the first mortal in general.Finn, the child of a mortal blessed with sight, and a mortal without, can attest to that statement.(Or: sometimes, you just need to shy away from the spotlight and embrace your position in the shadows.)(You do not need to read the first two parts of this series to understand this.)
Relationships: Arran | JustVurb & F1NN5TER, Arran | JustVurb & Jacob | Zelk, Erin Palmer (Finn’s Mum)/Alice Ward (Finn’s Ma), F1NN5TER & Darryl Noveschosch, F1NN5TER & Harvey | TapL, F1NN5TER & MegaPVP, F1NN5TER & Zak Ahmed, F1NN5TER (Video Blogging RPF) & Everyone, George | Spifey & F1NN5TER, Jacob | Zelk & F1NN5TER, Zak Ahmed & Darryl Noveschosch
Series: mortal in grace [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2056083
Comments: 19
Kudos: 168





	honestas ante honores

**Author's Note:**

> \- in this fic, I have a blind character, a genderfluid character, a QPR, a mute character, and possibly more. if I misrepresent them in any way, please let me know. I’m an abled cisfemale, but I tried to do as much research as needed into this as possible, but I may get some parts wrong
> 
> \- I know Finn has a mother and a father. This is entirely fictional, and just like how I gave Tommy a different last name and parents, I gave Finn a different last name and different parents. Please don’t think of this as RPF in any way, I just dont know what other fandom tag I could use
> 
> \- The neopronouns apply to Zelkam in this fic. Once again, it’s because people on the other dimension weren’t raised with then same ideology as Earthlings have, so they tend to just pick whatever pronouns feel comfortable with themselves. Zelk uses both he/him and fae/faer pronouns. If any part of this is wrong or offensive in any way, please let me know and I’ll change it. Also, Mega uses he/they pronouns. 
> 
> \- There’s a brief part in this where it’s suggested that Finn and some others have gotten drunk. This is 100% consensual drunkenness on all ends, and it’s not in any way shape or form alcohol abuse, they’re just drinking for fun. It’s not alcoholism and should not be read as such, just casual drunkenness. It’s also only mentioned and not shown.
> 
> \- also a brief part in which racism and war is mentioned. It’s not explicitly shown, but it is explicitly stated, though it is brief. It’s in the part after TapL & Mega meet. To give a brief rundown of it: war against TapL’s kind, there’s a group that’s dedicated to ‘eradicating’ his species, and his family had to move multiple times to avoid them. that’s all, but I’m putting it as a warning.

From his birth, Finn has always known that his family isn’t normal by any standards.

His Ma is blind, and so from early on Finn learns to help his Ma get things and walk around, and to describe things in detail so that his Ma can have a chance to at least know how things are supposed to look like. His Ma isn’t helpless — far from it, in fact — but people always treat her as if she is, and they always try to pet her service dog whenever they’re out, so Finn learns to be rude and blunt and to tell them that, no, this is Matt the service dog and they cannot get in the way of his job.

His Mum, on the other hand, can see a lot more than anyone else on this planet. She always tells him stories about the monsters that lurk in the dark, the monsters with tangly gangly bodies and twisted, ethereal forms. Those monsters rarely come, and they aren’t seen because they don’t want to be, but his Mum was apparently ‘cursed’ by a classmate of hers, given the twisted gift of Sight, and ever since then, his Mum has been paranoid.

Finn knows his Ma thinks his Mum is just a particularly insistent conspiracy theorist. She doesn’t hate her for it; finds it adorable, actually. Sometimes, when he’s free from school, he’ll sit next to his Mum as she rambles on about the Beings from Another Place, taking notes as his Ma laughs and chuckles fondly, listening to her rambles.

The beings have names. Some of them have long, drawn-out names that make his head spin and his tongue twist, and other times the names are so human it’s almost frightening.

“There are two types of them,” his Mum tells him once, when she’s tucking him into bed. Finn looks up at her with wide eyes. 

“What are they?” he asks eagerly. His Mum turns to a corner of his bedroom, where salt and pepper is laid on the floor after his Mum had come in one day to apparently find a creature only she can see just kneeling there, staring at the bed. 

“There’s the ones who are so monstrous you can’t mistake them as anything but,” she responds. “And there are the ones so human it’s scary how convincing they are.”

“But there’s ways to make them go away permanently, right?” Finn questions. “So why can’t I just do the whoosh and bam?”

His Mum sighs and runs a hand through his hair. “Because they have families too. Because no matter how monstrous they may look, they are weaved from the same thread as we are.”

“Oh,” Finn thinks, and asks another question. “So I should be scared of them?”

“Oh honey,” his Mum cradles his cheek gently. “For some of them, yes. But for others, no. You will meet those who you’ll know you can trust, and they’re going to be the best damn beings you’ll have ever met.”

“But how do I know which one of them I can trust?”

She smiles, and Finn never truly gets a straight answer from her.

Finn grows up in a family on the opposite, extreme ends of the spectrum of sight. He grows up with a mother who can see too little, and a mother who can see too much. He grows up learning all the rituals that matter and the runes that protect, and when someone tries to call him an idiot for believing in ‘that kind of stuff’, he breaks the guy’s nose, and feels nothing but pride as the blood runs down his hand.

“Ma?” Finn calls out from the living room, to his Ma who is in the kitchen eating. His Ma makes a questioning noise just loud enough for Finn to hear.

“Is it,” Finn hesitates in his words, but he knows his Ma surely wouldn’t judge him. “Is it weird if I don’t wanna be a boy sometimes?”

There’s a pause, and the fear that his Ma will throw him out to the streets strikes, but then he sees his Ma coming out of the kitchen slowly, navigating the living room by autopilot after years of living in it, sitting down on the sofa next to him.

“Of course not,” his Ma says softly. “What else do you want to be?”

“I don’t know,” Finn admits. “I don’t wanna be a boy sometimes, but I wanna be a boy other times.”

“How about we try something out?” his Ma suggests. “I’ll say a sentence, and you tell me if you like it or not.”

“Okay.”

“Good. This is my child Finn, and they are the best child in the whole world.”

It’s not just the words that send a tingle of happiness through Finn’s body. No, it’s the ‘they’ that his Ma uses. 

“I… like it,” Finn says slowly. “Especially with the- the they part.”

“Then would you like to be referred to with they and them pronouns?”

Finn thinks about it. They refer to themselves with those pronouns, and find themselves smiling.

“Yes, please.”

Their Ma chuckles and ruffles their hair. “Then those pronouns will be used for you.”

Let’s start from the beginning of everything, of how Finn first gets into the coalition of dimensions, of how Finn makes friends with the Beings from Another Place.

Finnley Palmer-Ward is newly seventeen, newly rediscovering her gender, and newly expelled from college when she runs into a man laying down on the floor of an alleyway.

Finn has seen weird things in her life. It’s hard not to, when she’s been raised in a household like hers. But the way everyone else just conveniently avoids looking into that alleyway in particular and the feeling at the back of her mind that’s telling her to ignore the man raises her suspicions.

Looking around, she ducks into the alleyway, and kneels to inspect the man more.

The man is passed out, with blood coming out of his nose and bruises all over his skin. He looks very, very beaten up, and when Finn reaches out to look for any injuries under his blood-stained shirt, it sends a spark of electricity up her arm, strong enough to make her hand quickly flinch away.

It’s odd. She reaches out again, and the shock comes again.

Finn looks around once more. There doesn’t seem to be anyone coming to help the man — if he even is human in the first place — and Finn couldn’t just leave him here. She probably couldn’t take him to the hospital either.

So, with those in mind, she hefts the man onto her shoulder, ignoring the fact that the blood is staining her jacket, and walks out the alleyway with him on her shoulder.

Surprisingly, nobody stops her as she asks to her apartment, and after an awkward ride up the elevator where she’s constantly worrying about the group standing next to her even if they don’t seem to notice the body she’s carrying, she manages to open the door to her apartment — blissfully empty, especially since her roommate’s moved out — and manhandle the man onto her sofa.

Finn heads into her bathroom to get the cloth hanging on the sink, and as she comes out, she locks her own blue eyes with the man’s kaleidoscope ones.

Well, the man isn’t really a man after all. Still, Finn carefully points to the cloth, and says, “I’m Finn. And I’m not letting you just bleed out on my couch, you know?”

The man stares at her for a while longer, before letting out a hysterical laugh. “I- yeah, okay.”

“Wanna tell me about those eyes of yours, buddy?” Finn starts casually as she reaches out to wipe the blood off of his nose. The man’s nose scrunches up, a motion so human it makes her laugh slightly.

“Only if you tell me why you somehow managed to notice me,” the man says. “Because you’re human, but you seem to know about- about my kind. And you’re not like, weird about it?”

“It’s called a hero complex and social expectations, my guy,” Finn replies with a small shrug. “That, and you were kind of controlling my movements there.”

That isn’t a lie. The moment Finn cleans up the blood, she can feel the fog that she never noticed before starting to clear up. The man winces, but doesn’t say anything as she stands up and moves to the sink to clean up the cloth.

“Do you know what you smell like?” the man asks her suddenly.

Finn turns around, hands still washing off the blood from the cloth. “What, like your blood?” she responds dryly.

“No,” the man laughs. “You smell like roses. Is your name Rose? Because if it is then, uh, it’s fitting.”

“I’ve told you already,” Finn says exasperatedly, coming back with the medkit she keeps under the bathroom sink. “My name is Finn.”

But as she tends to the man’s wounds, her mind wanders. The man calling her ‘Rose’ doesn’t sound so bad, actually. It even sounds like it almost fits better than ‘Finn’ does, and that thought scares her a little.

“Rose,” she tests out, even as she pulls a spare blanket over the unconscious man. “My name is Rose.”

The name fits. It makes her feel like the first time she used the pronouns they and them for herself, back when she was younger. So, with that in mind, Rose makes a decision.

Around an hour later, she’s telling her mothers to call her Rose when she’s female. She doesn’t mention her expulsion from college, nor the man laying on her cheap sofa. Her mothers are already worrying enough about her Mum’s job, they don’t need a disappointment of a daughter to worry them even more.

When the man wakes up, he introduces himself as Vurb, a male and a hybrid of a creature he refuses to state out, and he stumbled into the human world when he was younger and decided to stay.

“I know, it’s not like a normal human name,” Vurb winces. “But with all the other stupid names you humans have, I’ll never be found.”

“By who?”

Vurb clams up soon after that. “None of your business.”

“Fine by me,” Finn says. “Speaking of which, do you have a job? Or even a place to stay? Because if you have any people that came with you or whatever they might think I kidnapped you.”

That gets a little snort out of Vurb. “I have a job as a, uh, blogger.”

“So no place to stay?” Finn picks up on the lack of answer for their second question. “Then you wouldn’t mind being roommates, will you?”

Vurb freezes up. “What?”

“It’s a mutually beneficial relationship,” Finn shrugs. “You get to learn more about being human and paying off whatever debt you probably have to me, and I get to have someone co-pay my apartment fee with me and get protection from the other beings.”

“You still haven’t told me how you know about us.”

“Family secret, lover boy,” Finn sing-songs, just to watch Vurb’s face turn delightfully green, which is probably the equivalent of a blush in his species. “Now, is that a yes or a no?”

“Obviously yes,” Vurb scoffs. He reaches out a hand, and Finn takes it.

“A rose by another other name would smell just as sweet,” Spifey winks at her, and Rose can’t help but let out a laugh at that poor but charming attempt at flirting with her. 

She had met the guy at her retail job as a coworker, and they hit it off pretty well. It gets to the point where, when he asks her out on a date ‘to test our waters’, she accepts.

Their relationship is perfectly casual. Neither of them are looking for a relationship in particular, so if this date falls through at least they’ll be able to remain friends.

“I bet ten bucks you can’t come up with a better line than that,” Rose teases. Spifey laughs and nearly slaps the table, which would’ve been bad, considering the fact that they are in a public restaurant.

“I’m taking that bet,” Spifey grins. “Just give me a few minutes, won’t you?”

They spend the rest of their ‘date’ acting more like best friends casually out eating dinner with one another than actual dates on a, well, date.

At the end, when the Moon is already starting to rise, Spifey walks her home. They chat while they do, and make plans for a future meet-up. They joke about their job, too, talking about the customers they have to face, making up comebacks for the particularly regular and snotty ones.

“This is my stop,” Rose says, as she stops just in front of her door. “It was nice talking to you, Spifey.”

“You too,” Spifey says with a smile, but he doesn’t move. If anything, he seems to step _closer_. “Hey, before I go, can I say something?”

Rose’s fingers twitch towards the knife in her back-pocket. She was hoping she wouldn’t have to use it, and she did think Spifey was different, but her safety comes first, and she won’t hesitate to stab the shit out of him.

“Yeah?” she asks. “What’s up, my guy?”

There’s nobody around. The shadows seem to twist and spring to animation behind him. Rose reaches for her knife as Spifey steps even closer. Her other hand prepares to draw a rune out into the open air.

But before anything else can happen, her door bursts open, and Vurb comes falling through, his skin melting and dripping onto the floor like wax, and ears forming out of his hair, a snarl on his face as he readies to tackle Spifey down. Spifey, in return, turns an alarming shade of brown-red, and the shadows seem to pop out of the walls itself.

Rose stumbles back as the two get into a fight, and on autopilot, quickly cuts her arm with her knife, dipping her fingers into her blood as she draws out multiple runes in the air, the blood dripping slowly onto the floor.

There’s no glowing runes or rumbling floors to signal that her runes have worked, but the way Spifey and Vurb both stop and freeze in time, dropping to the floors as they become paralysed, is clue enough. Rose pants from the floor, exhaustion enveloping her bones, because _holy shit_.

She just wanted a nice platonic date with her work friend, goddamnit. 

Rose looks at the two of them, still on the floor. She sighs, and pushes herself upwards.

“I’m going to take you both into the apartment,” she says. “Is it stupid? Probably, yeah. But I’ve saved your life, Spifey, and for that very reason alone, you absolutely cannot kill me.”

She’s not above using their Code of Honour against them, especially not when her life is in danger. She also has no idea why she decides to help Spifey though he’s tried to kill her, or at the very least, do something bad to her, but she’s curious, and well, nobody has ever said that she’s the brightest of people.

“You are,” Spifey starts off carefully, easily, despite being bound to a chair with runes carved into heavy-duty ropes Finn has stored under his bed. “Nothing like I expected.”

“Thank you, my guy,” Finn says as a response, preparing some coffee for himself. “Vurb, put down that knife.”

“Toes,” is the only thing that Vurb replies.

“I don’t care about your toe fetish, Vurb, please stop trying to murder potential roommates.”

“You want me to be your roommate?” Spifey asks, surprised, as Vurb echoes the sentiment with a confused noise. Finn pulls out the coffee cup from the coffee maker, placing it on the table and going off to grab a spoon.

“As long as you don’t try to kill me again, I do need the extra help with paying,” Finn hums. “Unless you weren’t trying to kill me before.”

“I was going to kill you at the start,” Spifey admits sheepishly. “You were one of the few humans who actually had a lot of energy, and if I managed to get you I would be full for at least a month, maybe two if I stretch it out.”

“Well that’s not very cool of you,” Finn responds, stirring honey into his coffee. “But I’m flattered that I’m very… fulfilling, for whatever your kind is.”

“He’s a Black Hole,” Vurb hisses in distaste. “They tend to eat living beings for energy, without a care in the world.”

“Excuse you!” Spifey snaps, leaning forwards despite his bound form. “Not all of us are crazy and gluttons! It’s the bad bunch in our species that does that!”

“Alright, stop. Black Hole or not, species doesn’t matter here as long as he doesn’t eat me,” Finn says, pretending he has any idea of what that actually means in the terms of their dimension. “Well, with that aside, would you like to be my roommate?”

Spifey stares at him for a very, very long time. Finn’s about to just untie him and ask him to leave politely, when he starts chuckling.

“You know what?” Spifey asks rhetorically. “Sure, why not? Just untie me and give me a few hours to move all my things over, and I’ll be your roommate.”

“Promise not to kill me or Vurb or any future residents that will be staying with us?”

“I Swear it.”

The ‘swear’ sounds unusually capitalised, which must mean that it’s important and, perhaps, life-sealing. Finn grins, with only just a little hint of sharpness in it.

“Then welcome to the apartment, new roommate.”

Winter is just starting when Finn looks in the mirror, sees their brown hair, and feels something in them just twist in disgust.

They frown, reaching up to touch their hair, and immediately realises just exactly what’s wrong.

“Hey, Spifey,” they call out from the bathroom. “You worked as a hairstylist before right?”

“I have, why?” is the answer back.

Finn combs down their hair, and notes that it’s due for a haircut. But a little part of them is curious as to how they would look if they have longer hair, so they decide to just get a trim, and a little something else.

“Can you help me dye my hair?”

A few days later, Finn is proudly sporting a nest of red hair as they walk to their job. Not even the cold stops them from feeling bubbly inside whenever they look at their hair in the mirror. And if it pisses off the Karens that walk into the store? Even better.

But the best part is the way all the children coming in will stare and gasp in awe at their hair, complimenting them in a way that makes them feel happy and light and _awesome_.

The door slams open, and Finn hears the tell-tale sound of Vurb coming in. He groans, barely keeping himself awake after staying up all night to buy some extra hormone medications before he runs out, as well as buying some extra clothes for all of his genders. All online, of course; he’d be a fool to go out at night alone.

“If you make any extra noise I will scoop out your eyes to use as… fuck,” Finn says eloquently, too tired to make his words make sense.

“Are you alright, Finn?” Vurb sounds concerned. Finn really is lucky to have good friends.

“Just tired, don’t worry about me,” Finn lifts up a hand — or at least, he hopes he does, his whole body feels numb and exhausted — and waves it dismissively. “Play with the new phone I bought for you or something, I’ll be fine in a while.”

For a while, there’s barely any sound being made. The only sounds are Vurb and someone else’s voice — probably Spifey, though he’s supposed to be at his job. Then again, he could’ve just decided to come home early and flip off their boss while he’s at it. — whispering in hushed tones. Finn comes in and out of slumber, but he forces himself to stay awake and wait for the ‘ding’ of the coffee machine that signals that it is done.

Then, energy suddenly floods his body. Finn immediately lifts up his head, suddenly more alert and aware of the fact that the other person with Vurb is _not_ , in fact, Spifey.

Instead, there’s a sheepish, human-looking person standing next to Vurb, who’s currently hitting them in exasperation and worry. At least, Finn gets that kind of vibe from Vurb’s current expression.

And Finn says human-looking, not human, because he may be a dumbass at times, but he’s pretty sure that those long, over-branching horns and the tiny, furry ears in replacement of actual human ears on the person look too realistic to be props.

“What the fuck?” Finn says. His body doesn’t feel so numb anymore, which is impossible because he was just extremely tired like, a minute ago. “What the hell was _that_ , my guy? Not that I’m not grateful, but _what_?”

“You looked like you were about to fall asleep any second,” the person says embarrassedly. “And I am sorry for ruining your probably much-needed sleep, but I need your help.”

Finn blinks. “Why mine in particular?”

“Well, you’re Vurb’s… friend?” After a questioning look shot at Vurb, the person nods. “Yeah, Vurb’s friend. And Vurb may be an idiot at times, but he’s really good at spotting out good people. If he likes you, that’s enough for me to trust you too.”

Finn stares at the person for a while, to the point where the person starts squirming. Then, he sighs.

“I’ll need three pieces of information before I agree to anything,” he raises his fingers as he starts listing them down. “Number one, how long will it take? Number two, what’s your name, or what do you want me to call you? Number three, what’s your gender, and what pronouns do you use?”

The person blinks. Slowly, a small smile appears on their face.

“Everyone calls me Zelk, and I go by your world’s male binary pronouns and the fae pronoun set, because it sounds cool and it fits me,” Zelk says, a hint of pride in faer tone. “And it shouldn’t take long; about a day or so. It would really mean a lot if you decided to help.”

Finn wants to correct that, no, a day or so is _not_ in fact ‘not long’. But Zelk looks so sincere, and he’s already called a break into his job anyways, so he sighs.

“Give me a second,” Finn takes out his phone and sends off a quick message to Spifey asking him to pick up his hormone medications and clothes if they arrive while he’s gone. “Alright. Where are we heading?” 

“Vurb’s friend, this is the Witch of the Labyrinth,” Zelk gestures nervously to the relatively harmless-looking man sitting behind a table Finn would normally see in a principal’s office. “If you don’t mind, can you please help me talk to him?”

“First of all, my name is Finn,” Finn says dryly. “Second of all, why me specifically again?”

Zelk winces. “Well, you look similar to an old friend the Witch’s had, so I thought maybe you can convince the Witch to borrow me that book for a while.”

Finn stares back at Zelk, then slowly turns to the man, who was staring at them half-amusedly, half-curiously. His eyes then land on the book next to the man’s arm, a pink leather-bound book that looks more like a 5 year old girl’s diary than a magical book. He sighs.

“Alright, fine,” he sighs, before whirling around and marching up to the Witch, who is now peering at him in blatant amusement.

“Heya, my guy,” Finn says as casually as possible, with just the slightest bit of a flirty tone in his words. “I’m just gonna cut to the chase, can my buddy over there borrow that book of yours?”

The Witch stares him down, not giving him an answer. Finn stares at him back, unflinching even as he hears Zelk let out a soft bark.

“You look familiar,” the Witch muses. “Did any one of your relatives, by any chance, use to go by the name of Erin Palmer, by any chance?”

And that is when Finn has a sudden, probably overdue realisation.

Once, when he was younger, he had asked his Mum how the classmate who cursed her looked like. His Mum described the guy with blond hair and blue eyes, looking so deceptively human that it only made it more difficult to realise what he was trying to do.

Though the Witch has brown hair instead of blond, Finn just knows that the Witch and the guy who cursed his Mum are one and the same. It’s a feeling in his gut that won’t go away, and that feeling is almost never wrong. All the other evidence points to that conclusion, too.

“So you’re the one who gave Mum her so-called ‘gift’ of Sight,” Finn says. It is not a question. The Witch chuckles, albeit a bit sadly.

“She should’ve known not to have followed me,” the Witch says in lieu of an actual answer. “It was either to give her Sight or to bring her to the arms of the Reaper.”

And, well? Finn doesn’t know how to respond to that. So he doesn’t.

“Right, yeah,” Finn says awkwardly. “So uh, the book?”

The Witch laughs. “You are amusing,” he tells him even as he hands him the book. “I’ll be keeping an eye on you. Do remember the name of Seapeekay, won’t you?”

“Yeah, good luck with that buddy,” Finn replies, grabbing the book and booking it out of there, grabbing onto Zelk’s arm as he drags fae back from the direction they entered from. “And thank you!”

“Are you alright, Finn?” Zelk frowns at him when they walk out of the place. “You seem a little-”

“Don’t worry about me,” Finn says automatically. He continues walking forwards even as Zelk has stopped. “Let’s just go now.”

He hears a quiet sigh, but Zelk doesn’t say anymore as he catches up.

Finn smiles brightly as they open the door, being greeted with the sight of their mothers standing in front.

“Ma, Mum,” they greet warmly as they hug their mothers, breathing in the familiar and comforting smell of their mothers’ perfume. “It’s good to see you again.”

“It’s good to see you too, Finn,” their Mum says, after a brief look at the beanie tugged over their head. “I hope you’ve been doing well?”

“I have!” Finn responds brightly. “I’ve gotten some roommates to help me pay off rent, actually. They’ve become my friends now, actually, and they’re some of the best friends I’ve ever had.”

“We’re both glad for you, Finn,” their Ma says sincerely. “Now, where are these friends of yours? We have to thank them for looking after our child, after all.”

Finn opens their mouth to answer, but is cut off by a loud screech.

“HELP!” Zelk screeches, jumping over the tabletop in a graceful manner. Vurb isn’t so graceful, colliding with the table and nearly tumbling over the glass plates, before going around it instead. “SOMEBODY HELP!”

“Your toes are mine, Zelkam!” Vurb cackles.

There’s an awkward silence between Finn and their mothers, only broken by the background noise of Zelk screaming and Vurb also screaming, but louder. 

“My roommate’s a nice guy, I promise,” they say when the screaming gets a little softer. “He’s just… he’s just really big on his toe fetish.”

Their Ma chuckles awkwardly and quietly upon hearing their words. Their Mum isn’t so convinced, though. She scrutinises their roommates with a keen eye.

“Is he now?” their Mum asks. Finn nods. 

“Yup. Vurb’s a real nice guy once you get past the initial meeting, I promise,” Finn assures. “Why don’t you come inside? I’ll have to go speak to my roommates for a while, though. I kind of forgot you two were coming, I was so busy with my job!”

“You’ve got a job now?” their Ma asks pleasantly as she and their Mum step inside. “How wonderful! I’m glad you found a job that doesn’t interfere with your education.”

Finn freezes. Sweats a little. 

They’ve forgotten that they are supposed to be going to college. The college that they were expelled from.

‘Well, a problem for later,’ Finn thinks as they usher their mothers into the main room, tugging their Ma’s chair back for her to sit properly.

“I’ll be quick, Ma, Mum!” Finn calls as they drag Vurb and Zelk to them and Spifey’s shared bedroom, slamming the door quickly but loudly enough to startle Spifey, who nearly drops out of his bed.

“Okay, can you guys _please_ just stay in here until my parents leave,” Finn isn’t one to beg, but they’re pretty sure that’s what they're doing now. “My Mum has the Sight, and she’ll be able to See you after a few minutes.”

Vurb and Spifey have paled in the middle of their explanation, and Zelk looks like he is slowly understanding, so Finn bids them a quick goodbye and shuts the door, heading back to the main room where their mothers are.

“Sorry about that,” Finn apologises as they sit down on the opposite side of their mothers. “But it’s been so long since I’ve seen you! How are you?”

“We’re fine,” their Ma says gently. “We just wanted to check up on you; you haven’t been calling us as much, and we’re very worried.”

“Yeah, sorry about that,” Finn laughs sheepishly. “I’ve just been really busy with work and all, but I promise I’ll try to call you more, whenever I can. Where’s Matt?”

“Matt got some sort of injury, so he’s staying at the vet for now,” their Ma responds. “Your Mum’s been helping me with a lot of things.”

“Oh, Alice,” their Mum sighs, and Finn groans as their mothers start to act lovey-dovey right in front of them.

“Sorry, sorry. You’re really working hard, aren’t you?” their Mum says amusedly, after shooting a loving look to their Ma. “How is college? Has it been great?”

“Oh! Yeah, it’s been fine,” Finn smiles, before quickly switching to another topic. “So uh, what’s been happening back home?”

By the time evening comes, Finn is laughing and smiling as they say goodbye to their mothers, hugging them tightly and ignoring the little tears that streak down their cheeks. As the door closes behind them, Finn’s smile falls just a little, and they sigh before heading to theirs and Spifey’s shared bedroom.

“You can come out now,” they call, and the door is quickly opening up. They stifle a laugh as Zelk glares at them from where faer trussed up by shadows as Vurb sits at faer feet.

“I hate you,” fae hiss out.

“Were those your sires?” Spifey asks curiously as he steps aside to let Finn come in. Finn nods, a soft smile appearing on their face.

“Yeah, they were,” they say.

“Both of them feel different to normal humans,” Vurb says. “I guess that explains why you turned out to be like this.”

“What the hell is _that_ supposed to mean?”

“Uh, nothing!” Vurb yelps. Finn snickers.

“But yeah, I guess that really explains me,” Finn parrots teasingly. “In all seriousness though? My Ma — the taller one — is blind, but that doesn’t mean she’s weak. My Mum, on the other hand, has the Sight. As in, she’s been able to see those from your dimensions or whatever for years now.”

“Oh,” Zelk suddenly shouts, startling all of them. “Is that why the Witch said that-?”

Once again, Finn scowls at the mention of the Witch. Seapeekay… they don’t really have a good opinion of him so far, even though he maybe didn’t mean to do it. “Yes, that’s why.”

“Bad memories?” Spifey questions. Finn sighs.

“Nothing much, just a bad topic,” they open up the door. “Now, who wants to get drunk?”

They have never seen Vurb run out faster, nor Zelk scream louder for Spifey to ‘let fae go right now’. Finn finds themselves smiling at their antics.

When Rose wakes up, the first thing she notices is that wow, it’s freezing.

The second thing she notices is the two figures hovering above her body. That is, the biblically accurate angel and demon pair hovering above her body. And she says ‘biblically accurate’, because one of them looks like a demented cross of a bunch of very big, blue rings, all with wings and eyes on them, while the other looks almost human-looking, if it isn’t for the fully red and black body, and the large span of the wings that stretch out behind the demon. Oh, and the horns, can’t forget the horns.

The third thing she notices is that she’s in a winter wonderland. Or rather, a winter hell-land, because she’s like 40% sure she has frostbite now. Her body feels numb as _shit_ , and she can’t remember how she got here.

“The man is awake!” the angel exclaims, in a chorus of voices. It makes Rose wince, and she reaches her hands up to her ears to cover them.

“Oh my god, why are you so loud?!” she nearly screeches. Immediately, the angel backtracks, flying a little further away. “And I’m not a man, at least not now!”

“ _ **Do not fear**_ ,” they announce loudly, and Rose feels any traces of fear disappear. She also feels even more pain in her ears, and scrambles back. The snow below her hands surprisingly doesn’t feel all that cold, so that’s a plus side in the weird situation she’s found herself in.

“What the fuck,” she says, because what else is there to say?

Except that was probably a bad idea, because the demon whirls on her, and yells, “Language!”

Rose squints up at them. “You’re… I mean, you’re literally a demon, but I guess I can’t really judge.”

The demon huffs, a move so human it makes her reel back for a second, and she has to tell herself that they’re probably like Spifey and Vurb and Zelk, who’ve spent so much time around humans that they’ve started to mimic their mannerisms. 

“Just don’t do it again, you bad muffin,” the demon chides her gently, and it’s such a parental move that it makes her feel ashamed and embarrassed for a small moment, before those feelings are replaced by confusion and exasperation.

“I won’t,” she says. “So like, if you don’t mind me asking… who are you? Where am I? What did I do to arrive in a place like this? What are your pronouns?”

“Whoa, okay, slow down!” the angel yelps, the wings fluttering in surprise. “I didn’t expect that many questions!”

“Well you should’ve given me the answers first when I awoke!” Rose splutters. “It’s not my fault that everything’s confusing right now!”

“Stop fighting!” the demon bursts out, surprising all three of them, if the looks on the angel and the demon say anything about it. 

Then, the demon turns to her, their expression softening a tad bit. “I’m BadBoyHalo, and this is Skeppy, and we’re both male!”

“BadBoyHalo and Skeppy,” Rose echoes. She can understand Skeppy — well, sort of, at least — but BadBoyHalo? Why _that_ name in particular?

But she isn’t about to judge, so she just clears her throat. “I… okay. Okay then. Can I call you Bad? Bad-Boy-Halo is a pretty long name, isn’t it?”

“Sure!” Bad visibly lights up — as in, his whole body just starts glowing like a night-light. Rose doesn’t comment on that, and focuses on other, more important questions.

“Right, uh,” Rose looks at Skeppy, and winces at the way the rings keep spinning around. Skeppy notices, and speaks up about it.

“Oh, I forgot normal humans aren’t that used to sights like this,” Skeppy then proceeds to change into a black haired man with a blue hoodie and some black pants. Bad also changes into a man, but brown haired and wearing a red hoodie and grey pants instead. Both of them still have their respective wings and horns and halos, and they look more like the westernised versions of what an angel and a demon look like. “Is this better?”

“I would’ve been able to handle your previous forms,” Rose adds hastily. “You didn’t have to change for me.”

“It’s fine,” Skeppy shrugs, “We haven’t had the practice to do so for a long time, anyways.”

“Okay, then uh,” Rose looks around. Snow is still falling from the sky, and the pine trees are practically drenched in snow. Despite that, her coldness is already fading, and when she looks down at herself, at her black dress and black heels and her general attire that really shouldn’t be warming her up this much, she doesn’t see anything out of the blue. Except for her healthy skin, that is. “Where am I exactly? And why am I not like… freezing to death or something like that?”

“You’re in purgatory, dude!” Skeppy cheers, flying around in enthusiasm. “You’re actually the first one here in a long time!”

“Huh,” well, Rose didn’t think that this is how purgatory would look, but she can’t judge, so she just stands up. “That’s… purgatory looks nice, I guess.”

“We tried to decorate it nicely for anyone that would come upon here,” Bad says brightly. “The last time we went to the human world, it was winter, so we made it winter!”

“Yeah, I figured,” Rose deadpans, choosing not to elaborate despite Bad shooting her a questioning look. “You still haven’t answered how I arrived here.”

“Well, to be honest,” Bad and Skeppy share a look. “We have no idea either.”

“But we do know how to get you back!” Skeppy adds helpfully. He then winks at her playfully. “For a price, of course.”

He’s immediately hit over the head by Bad.

“Sorry about him,” Bad apologises. “It’s just… it’s really been so long since we’ve had someone else here. We can get you back, but you have to close your eyes for a while and wait for us to set up the portal.”

Rose obligingly turns around and covers her eyes with her palms — after brushing the remnants of the snow off on her dress, of course — and listens to the sound of Bad and Skeppy bickering lightly, and then a fwoosh sound.

“Is it done?” she asks aloud, turning around to meet Bad and Skeppy’s faces.

“Yeah, just go through the portal and you’ll be back at your… apartment or whatever.” Bad smiles at her, but there’s something off about his smile.

Rose stares at the glowing white portal that looks a lot like something that came out of a 2015 fantasy game, and nods.

“Alright then,” she says slowly, walking forwards just a little bit. “I guess I’ll be heading back now.”

Bad and Skeppy both offer her smiles, before turning and walking away. Watching them walk away reluctantly, as if they don’t want her to go… it lets her make a startling realisation.

‘They’re lonely,’ she realises. It must’ve been lonely, being forced to stay in here for so long, with only each other as company. How long ago must it have been, for someone else to arrive here?

“Wait!” she calls. The two of them pause, turning around and staring back at her in curiosity. She takes a deep breath, already half-regretting this.

“Do you want to come with me?”

A pause. “What?”

“I said,” Rose repeats. “Do you want to like, head back to my apartment with me? Like, leave this place and come along with me? I’m sure my roommates won’t mind.”

“Whoa whoa whoa, hold up,” Skeppy flies towards her in disbelief. “You want us to come with you?”

Rose looks up at him and frowns. “Are you guys not allowed to leave? Because if you are, you can come with me.”

“No, we are,” he and Bad share a look. “We’ve just assigned ourselves as guardians because we didn’t have anywhere to… nevermind.”

Rose has a feeling about what that sentence would’ve ended it, and it sends a pang of sympathy through her heart. “Well, if you want, you can come with me. I’m sure my other roommates would love to meet you.”

“I…” Bad swallows audibly. “Yes. Yes, if you’d have us.”

“Of course I will,” Rose waves them over. “Now come on, let’s go.”

She steps through the portal with her eyes squeezed shut, and when she opens them, she finds herself sprawled on the couch of her apartment. She stands up and smooths down her dress. She’s just finishing up removing her heels when there’s two yelps coming from behind her.

With a grin, she turns around, meeting the surprised faces of Bad and Skeppy.

“Welcome to the apartment,” she grins. Then, she looks around, and only realises the amount of wine bottles scattered all over the place. “...I think I need to move out.”

Rose isn’t home when Bad and Skeppy meet Zelk, Spifey and Vurb. She doesn’t know what they have spoken about, nor what they have done in her absence, but when she comes back, it’s to an eviction notice sticking on her door, and a cracked wall.

When she opens the door, she’s half-expecting to find the place in shambles and cracks. So it comes as a surprise to find all of them huddled around a laptop, muttering among themselves.

Except… there’s something not quite right. Is it just her, or is there someone extra in there?

“Did you guys adopt a stray without telling me?” she says jokingly.

They all startle, turning around to face her. The new person glares at her. They look like a smaller and more colourful version of Slenderman, with a green striped scarf wrapped around their neck, and wearing a blue-green jacket and some grey pants. 

“Rose!” Vurb greets nervously. “We uh, we weren’t expecting you back so early!”

“Yeah, well I wasn’t expecting an eviction notice on my door either,” Rose responds dryly, but softens when she notices all of them look guilty. “Hey, it’s okay. I was already planning on finding a bigger apartment, anyways. What are you doing, and who’s the new one?”

“Oh, this is Mega, they’re my assistant! He’s a good one, too!” Skeppy announces delightly, standing up much taller than he used to be, and holding up Mega like a cat. In response, Mega hisses and kicks his groin, making Skeppy screech and drop them quickly.

Spifey snorts. “Deserved.”

As Skeppy starts to yell at Spifey, Rose takes off her jacket and her hair tie, letting her hair fall to her shoulders. She then walks up to the group and peers at the laptop screen.

“‘Listings for big apartments’,” she reads out. “Aww, you actually care!”

“But we always have?” Zelk frowns. Rose waves his comment away with a small laugh, ignoring the way his words bring a flutter of happiness to her heart.

“Nevermind that,” she dismisses. “It’s nice to meet you, Mega. Will you be staying?”

“ _Not much for me to do, since someone kidnapped me_ ,” Rose twitches upon hearing Mega in her head. She wouldn’t really call it a voice, because it sounds more like one of those robotic Google Translator voices.

“Hey, you wanted to be kidnapped!” Skeppy squawks, so indignant it makes her chuckle. “Oh yeah, Rose. Mega can use that robotic thought voice thing, but it takes a lot out of them, so for the most part they’re kind of just…”

“Mute,” Rose finishes the sentence for him. “Yeah, no, I get it. Say, what sign language do you use, Mega?”

Mega looks surprised — at least, from what she can tell by their eyebrows — but their thought-voice floats into her head soon enough. “ _I know ASL and BSL, and the basics of all the others_.”

“Alright,” Rose nods. “I know the basics of BSL, but I guess it’s time to sign all of us up for Sign Language classes.”

“ _You don’t have to do that for me,_ ” Mega protests, but Rose shakes her head.

“But it’d be easier and more comfortable, wouldn’t it?” she asks. “Besides, it would be good to learn some. Isn’t that right?”

The others let out noises of agreement. Rose turns back to Mega. 

“See? All fine,” she says. “Now, would you like to stay with us?”

Mega stares at her wide-eyed, but doesn’t respond.

A week later, his response is evident when Finn finishes carrying the rest of the boxes into the house in a pretty empty neighbourhood, one that Spifey and Vurb have somehow been able to afford despite the fact that none of their jobs pay that well, and finds Mega curling up on the new, big couch they’ve bought, purring like a cat. 

He sets down the boxes and smiles fondly.

Finn doesn’t have many childhood friends. He had been on good terms with a lot of his former classmates, but not to the point where he would call them friends. But there was one guy who he could call a childhood friend.

Harvey Tapple was his neighbour from third to fifth grade. They went to the same school, had most of the same classes, and generally spent most of their time with each other. It was safe to say that they were the best of friends.

That friendship lasted a whole two years, before Harvey was forced to leave, and Finn never saw him again. But despite that fact, he still hasn’t forgotten about him.

So it comes as a surprise when he spots Harvey in the supermarket, picking out some apples — which is kind of ironic, considering how much the guy had been compared to an apple back in secondary school — and humming to a song Finn remembers hearing on a radio.

He’s still deciding whether to confront him or to just avoid him to spare himself from embarrassment when Harvey apparently notices him and decides to go up to him instead.

“Hey, are you Finn?” Finn yelps and nearly trips over his own feet as Harvey is suddenly just _right there_.

“Holy shit, Harvey,” he gasps. “You scared me!”

Harvey laughs, and Finn relaxes when he realises that he does remember him. “Sorry! But hey, it’s been long since we’ve seen each other, wanna catch up?”

“Sure!” Finn agrees, secretly relieved that it’s that easy to convince the other to catch up.

One thing leads to another, and Finn finds himself chatting easily with Harvey as they sit in the park, simply just talking.

Harvey has changed a lot since secondary school. His hair has the faint remains of red dye on it, which Harvey revealed that he had dyed it to look more like an apple.

“Technically, you’re supposed to dye it green or brown and wear red or green clothes,” Finn teases him over his cup of newly bought coffee. “You love apples so much but you forget that they have the green leaf and the brown stalk on top of red?”

“Okay, but in my defence, I was an idiot-”

Dusk falls, and Harvey offers to walk him back to his house. Finn accepts, obviously.

“You know, I’m feeling a little bit of deja vu from this,” Finn comments as he strolls down the path leading to his house.

“How so?” Harvey asks. A memory of his first meeting with Spifey resurfaces, and Finn lets out a small chuckle.

“Oh, nothing much. It just reminds me of the first meeting I had with one of my friends,” he says. “I mean, it’s oddly similar and all.”

“You went on a date with them as well?”

“Yup. What a coincidence, right?”

They reach his doorstep just as Finn finishes his sentence. Harvey whistles lowly upon seeing the house.

“Wow, this is big,” he says, impressed. “How many people are you living with?”

“Like, six,” Finn laughs. “We shared the payment for the house. Well, not really shared, since two of them did most of the payment, but we all contributed.”

“They must be really rich,” Harvey says. “Well, I guess I’ll see you sometime soon? Perhaps we could arrange a meeting like this in the future?”

“Sure,” Finn smiles, already taking out his phone to make a note for the date. “How does next Sunday sound? We can go to that new flower garden that’s just opened up. I heard it’s doing pretty good.”

“Sounds nice, I’ll see you there,” the other agrees.

That should be the end of it. Except, Mega opens the door just as Finn reaches to open it himself, and the moment Mega and Harvey see each other, his peace is basically over.

Mega lunges at Harvey, and Finn reaches out to stop them from doing so, but Harvey pushes him away, somehow conjuring up a bronze knife from the air, and charging at Mega.

Finn watches in disbelief. Since when the hell can Harvey do that kind of stuff? And why the hell is his skin falling onto the ground as if he’s shedding it?

And as Harvey and Mega fight each other, all Finn can do is stand in the doorway and think sullenly to himself, ‘Why do all my friend-dates always end up in a fight?’

“So you’re a changeling?”

Harvey grimaces from where he’s tied to a chair. “Half-changeling,” he corrects.

Besides Finn, Mega’s hands scratch on the nearby table in a way that makes Zelk quickly snatch his hand up from the table. “Please stop,” fae whisper.

In response, Mega raises his two pinky fingers to jut forwards harshly, before moving his right index finger next to his nose and moving it to the front of his face, before slamming his hand down on the table angrily. _**Bad fake.**_

Finn just assumes that ‘fake’ is supposed to mean ‘changeling’, and sighs. “I don’t know what changelings have done to you, Mega, but you probably shouldn’t judge people based on their species. I mean… isn’t that kind of racist or whatever?”

“It is,” Harvey rolls his eyes. “Just because some of my kind is bad doesn’t mean others are. Do you _know_ how many hoops my family had to jump through to even be allowed to stay in a rescue camp? Not all of us wanted that war!”

“War? Rescue camp?” Finn mouths. 

“The Fair Folk started a war and lost. And even though not all of them wanted it, racism is still… y’know. Bigots never learned.” Zelk winces after faer explanation, and _ah._

“Is that why you had to move away, Harv?” Finn asks, and Harvey grimaces.

“Yeah,” he admits. “Some of the Faeslayers wanted my family gone, and we had to move a bunch of times for a while.”

Mega’s eyebrows furrow, and though he still looks displeased, he seems more willing to let Harvey stay. 

“Are they still after you?” Bad asks gently. Harvey shakes his head.

“Nope,” and here he grins, just a little. “I learned to hide my changeling parts. And at any rate, most of them are too weak to even come into the human world anyways. They haven’t been a bother for me in a long time.”

“It must’ve been tough for you though,” Spifey says. Harvey shrugs. 

“Yeah, it was. But I’m fine now. Also, I should be heading home since it’s already late, and I do need my sleep.”

“Well why don’t you stay?” surprisingly, it’s Bad who suggests that first. The demon flushes red as everyone’s attention turns to him, but he continues regardless. “I mean, we can always have another roommate! Or housemate. Right, Finn?”

“Uh, yeah,” Finn blinks. “If everyone here is okay with that.”

He looks around, and everyone seems content enough. Only Mega looks the slightest bit displeased.

Mega places his hands to his chest and moves them away from each other in a quick move, before raising his left hand and tapping it against the top of his head three times, with the fingers stuck close together. **_No danger?_**

Finn smiles and shakes his head. Mega glares at Harvey, who glares right back, before slumping down, making a thumbs up sign.

And so the house — lovingly dubbed by Bad as the ‘Purrgatory’ — gets a new member in the form of Harvey. He takes to Skeppy, Bad and Spifey like a duck to water, while Zelk and Vurb take a bit longer, but they chill with him soon enough. Finn finds himself spending more time with him around the house, and goes to a coffee shop with him every second Sunday.

Mega and Harvey still don’t tolerate each other in the beginning. There always has to be someone else with them to make sure they don’t try to take each other’s heads off. But slowly, surely, they grow closer. Forgiveness and trust takes time, and when Finn spots Mega curled up next to Harvey as they watch something on the television, something in his chest warms.

At some point, their relationship as a whole shifts from just friends to something deeper than that.

Rose notices it in bits. 

She notices it in the way they’ve started sleeping in the same bed, to the point where, when Vurb throws out all the beds in the house but one, it doesn’t change much of their routine, and none of them ever make moves to get a new one.

She notices it in the way her coworkers would comment on her so-called ‘boyfriends’, telling her how lucky she is to have found seven other people who love her so dearly, despite her claims that no, they’re not her boyfriends at all.

She notices it in the way all of them are so comfortable around each other, to the point where cuddling and kissing is basically the norm in the house. Everyday, when Rose returns from her job, she would always get a kiss or a hug, or even both if it’s a particularly good day.

And perhaps the most telling of all is the way that strangers would mistake any and every pair of them to be a couple. No matter who any of them are with, they would get mistaken for a couple one time or more.

Rose knows it’s not romance. She doesn’t find the thought of doing it with them all that compelling, and the terms ‘lover’ and ‘romantic partner’ doesn’t seem to fit what they have.

So, like she does with all her problems, she takes it to google.

**[What does it mean if I want to be a couple with my friends, but not like romantic]**

**[Can I be in a platonic romantic relationship with people]**

**[Queerplatonic relationships]**

**[What does it mean to have a queerplatonic relationship]**

**[What do people in queerplatonic relationships do]**

**[Am I in a queerplatonic relationship]**

Two hours of google searches and reading later, she sits back on the chair in numb surprise. She’s stunned, of course. She’s never imagined herself being in a relationship at all. 

But there’s a little part of her that’s thrilled. She closes all the browsers, and leans back on her chair.

‘I am in a queerplatonic relationship,’ she thinks. ‘Me, Vurb, Spifey, Zelk, Skeppy, Bad, Mega, and Harvey are all in one, big queerplatonic relationship.’

The words feel _right_. It’s… kind of scary, if she’s to be honest with herself.

‘Would they even want to be in one with me?’

Rose swallows her nerves and goes to talk to Vurb.

He was the first who she’s met, the first of whom she’s spent time around the longest. No matter how much of a joker he might be, she knows that he would give her his honest opinion, and that’s enough for her to go to him first.

“Hey, Vurb, are you busy?” Rose peeks into the office room Vurb is currently using. Vurb makes a hum as he scrolls through a website on his laptop, and shakes his head.

“Okay, good,” Rose hesitantly steps in. “Can I talk to you for awhile? It’s serious.”

This makes Vurb turn away from his laptop, a frown on his face. “Yeah, sure. Come in. What did you need to ask?”

“Okay, so don’t take my word for it, first of all,” Rose starts off, shifting nervously as she sits on a beanbag in the room, sinking into it. “But I’ve noticed our relationship — as in, our whole group’s friendship — isn’t exactly… conventional, I guess? So I went searching up some stuff about it, and I was just wondering about your opinion of this, but… are we all in a big queerplatonic relationship?”

Vurb stares back at her in confusion. “I mean, I’ve never really questioned it? Honestly, do we really need labels on what we have? It’s- it’s enough, isn’t it?”

“Well, yeah,” Rose waves her hands in a flustered way. “But, I don't know. Labels are… safer, I guess? Wait, did the others know already?”

“We thought you knew,” Vurb responds defensively. “I mean, you kept inviting us into your little group, and so we all just thought you wanted to form some sort of thing with us.”

“Whoa whoa whoa, hold up,” Rose says. “So you all thought I wanted to have something special with all of you from the start, and you never corrected me?”

“In our defence, we thought you knew about that little rule.”

“I didn’t!” Rose bursts out, but waves her hands frantically to stop Vurb from thinking the wrong kind of thoughts. “But I mean I want to, kind of? Like, something similar to it, I guess.”

“Then what’s the problem?” Vurb asks, his voice suggesting genuine confusion. “I mean, other than telling others, of course.”

Rose will absolutely not admit what she feels, so she just sighs and switches the topic instead. “Will you help me talk to the others about this?”

“Of course.”

And when Rose confronts the rest of her group, Vurb is right next to her, squeezing her hand in comfort. And that’s enough for her to not back out in fear.

They fall into a routine.

Despite most of their non-human traits, most of them are comfortable with living and appearing perfectly human. Finn, Spifey and Harvey wake up the earliest for their jobs, and by the time the others wake up they’re usually gone.

Zelk and Vurb have part-time jobs in the other dimensions, and they usually disappear for a few hours before reappearing around the same time that Finn, Spifey and Harvey come home. Skeppy and Bad usually spend their time either playing games or managing their little purgatory area. Mega spends all their time at home, taking care of the stray animals that would somehow, no matter what Finn did, always wander into their house.

“Where are they all even coming from?” Finn once asked exasperatedly. There had been no clear answer to his question, but since the animals aren’t really hurting anyone, they’re allowed to stay. Mega looks ever the more delighted by their continued presence, anyways, and Finn can’t remove that kind of happiness for them.

In their tentative beginnings, they all sleep in the same bed, apart, and wake up tangled with each other. Eventually, they stop caring about how they sleep. It’s common for Finn to just be lying down and have one of the others flop down to lay on his stomach or on his legs, and vice versa. 

They don’t have many neighbours, but sometimes Bad will come back in from mowing the lawn and describing his encounter with the nice old couple just a few doors down the road, or what the neighbourhood’s children have told him about recently.

Once a week, they all do a grocery run in duos or trios. They’ve only tried going together once, and it ended in a quarter of the Walmart’s shelves being toppled, a sudden power outage, a food fight, and them being banned from entering the store for life. To this day, Finn has no idea who started the food fight.

Finn grows to appreciate his partners even more — not that he hasn’t already appreciated them, of course. Some of their small mannerisms become obvious and sweet, and he often wonders how he’s so lucky, to have not one, not two, but seven other people to share his adoration with.

They have their arguments, of course. Sometimes it’s over the little things, like who broke the coffee machine just now, or who put sticky notes over the dining table. Other times, it’s over much bigger things, like insensitive jokes and pointless arguments that unfortunately turn to something bigger than it’s supposed to be. But Finn knows that, in the end, they’ll always come back together, like puzzle pieces fitting together perfectly.

His mothers like them enough. They still haven’t met up — and Finn is dreading the inevitable discussion of why he’s hanging around Beings from Another Place — but based on the conversations his partners have had with his mothers over the phone, they’re on good terms.

It’s not romance. It could never be romance, not with what some of them feel. But it’s something more intimate than that, something more thrilling and delightful, and Finn wouldn’t have it in any other way.

Finn stirs when they feel the presence of warmth going further from them. Reaching out, they fall upon soft feathers.

“Hey, Finn,” they hear Skeppy say softly. “I have to go for a while. Make an appointment and all.”

“Mmh, no,” Finn whines, making what they hope is grabby hands, or at least close to them. “Come back.”

Skeppy, to Finn’s dismay, actually leaves the bed, but they’re temporarily satisfied by someone else — Zelk, they realise, upon feeling the antlers on his head — rolling over to snuggle under their arms.

They drift in and out of sleep, relaxing in the cosy atmosphere of an early morning. Finn’s about to fall asleep once more, when a bright light suddenly assaults their eyes.

“Wake up!” Skeppy calls, sounding more excited than ever. “Come on guys!”

They yawn and sit up, rubbing their eyes sleepily. “Wha’?”

“What the fuck,” Spifey grumbles tiredly. Besides Finn, Zelk groans and tries to roll over, only to burst into a fit of giggles when Skeppy decides that the best way to wake him up is to tickle him relentlessly.

“Stop, stop,” Zelk laughs. “Okay, okay, I’m up, what is it?”

“ _This better be good_ ,” despite Mega’s monotone robot thought-voice, they still manage to convey the annoyance they’re feeling. “ _Or I’m throwing you out the window_.”

“Now that you’re all awake,” Skeppy says triumphantly as Finn rubs at their eyes to get a clearer vision, the assault of the light slowly dying down to reveal Skeppy’s smiling face as he hovers above the bed, wings flapping in excitement. “I have amazing news!”

“What is it?” Harvey questions.

“I managed to get you a meeting with the Little Blessed!” Skeppy says enthusiastically.

“The Little Blessed?” Zelk gasps in disbelief. “How?”

Finn does remember who the Little Blessed is. It’s hard not to, when it had been the apparent ‘big news’ in the other dimensions. The Little Blessed is apparently some propheted hero, who had somehow managed to charm a bunch of gods and hybrids to hang out with him and adore him. Also, he’s thought to be the first human to ever step foot into the dimensions, but that part’s a clear lie, considering Finn’s existence.

“Well, let’s just say I know Tetkityarl,” Skeppy sing-songs. “And he owed me a favour, so I cashed in!”

“Okay, so when are we meeting the guy?” Finn asks, slowly getting up and off from the bed.

“Today afternoon! Which is why I woke you up so early, we have to get dressed properly.”

“Didn’t take you for one to care about fancy dress-ups,” Spifey teases, though he’s already walking over to the closet. “What’s the dress code?”

“Oh, you know,” Skeppy waves a hand dismissively. “Fancy clothes. Which reminds me, can I dress you up Finn?”

“Only if Bad is there too,” Finn responds automatically. Bad lights up and cheers as he clings onto Finn, who nearly falls over with a yelp.

“Oh, you’re gonna look great Finn!” he says brightly. “I know just what to dress you in!”

“You should’ve said no, Finn!” Vurb shouts jokingly. Despite his obvious joke, looking at Skeppy’s planning face, Finn already half-agrees with that statement.

“Yeesh, did they give the dude any say in where the venue was?” Finn comments as they stroll through the large and way-too-grand hall. “If the ‘Little Blessed’ was truly raised in a middle class environment he would never rent out a place like this. I mean, I know I wouldn’t.”

“Same here,” Harvey agrees, squinting at the gold-trimmed decorations all over the ceiling. “It’s all too shiny and fake.”

 _“Where’s the child?_ ” Mega demands, their feet stepping on the ground silently but angrily. Skeppy rolls his eyes and points to a direction.

“He’s literally right there,” he says exasperatedly. “It’s kind of hard to miss him.”

Finn turns their head and _oh_ , yeah. It’s definitely hard to miss the glowing blond being surrounded by a lot of beings and hybrids. 

“He looks kind of uncomfortable,” they murmur. Bad lets out a sigh as he flies beside them. Zelk rolls faer eyes and sighs too.

“So, Skeppy,” Finn says. “Who’s your friend?”

“Over there, dude!” Skeppy responds brightly, his wings gesturing to a pink haired pig-man standing just behind the Little Blessed.

Spifey shrugs. “Doesn’t look like much to me. But hey, shouldn’t you be like… hugging him or something? Y’know, like what friends do after they haven’t seen each other in a long time?”

“Oh, true. Tetkityarl!” Skeppy cheers, flying over to hug the pig-like being with his wings. Said being rolls his eyes, but doesn’t push him away. The Little Blessed cackles at his flat expression.

“Skeppy,” Tetkityarl rolls his eyes, but fondly. “Hello.”

“Heard you got yourself a new name,” Skeppy says playfully, as Finn and the rest catch up to him. “Technoblade, eh? Sounds like a weird gamertag that some ten year old would come up with.”

“What the heck is a gamertag?”

“It’s a username in games,” the Little Blessed supplies. “And it’s nice to meet you, Skeppy. You said you would be bringing more?”

“That would be us,” Bad says lightly, and Finn can’t hide their giggle at the way the whole group of beings just snap their heads — or whatever equivalent of it there is in their forms — towards them as they finally come to a stop just in front of them.

“Hello,” Harvey greets. “Warm weather we have today, don’t we?”

It’s a stupid joke, but it’s one that brings a smile to Finn’s face.

“Hello,” the teen says politely, a half-genuine half-fake smile on his face. “It’s nice to meet you all. You can call me Tommy.”

“Nice to meet you too, my guy,” Finn grins. 

“You speak more human than the others here,” Tommy remarks curiously. “Have you been living on Earth for long?”

“Some of us have,” Zelk speaks up. “It’s very nice here. Very quaint.”

“If you describe Earth as quaint again, I will stab you, Zelk,” Harvey deadpans, and that causes Finn to break out into snickers. They hear Vurb laughing too, his laughter a weird mix of radio crackles and a normal human man’s laughter.

“We just came here to check out what all the news is about,” Spifey says politely. “That, and we didn’t want to waste Skeppy’s favour.”

“Well, I’m not much,” Tommy laughs. “You’ve probably already heard the gist of it. Prophecy, first human here, godly friends, blah blah blah.”

Finn can’t stop the laughter from coming out. The others also start to snicker and chuckle as well, with Vurb even jabbing Zelk as if they know something that Tommy and his friends don’t. Which, in a way, is kind of true.

“First human,” they repeat. “Right.”

“Relax, Tetkityarl,” Skeppy laughs easily, patting the pig-like being on the back. “We’re just joking.”

“Actually, you haven’t introduced yourself yet,” Tommy comments. “And what’s so funny?”

Finn glances at Tommy, at the little flock he’s found himself with, at their own little but tight group. They share a look with them, and know that whatever happens next, they would follow them in their decision.

“My name is Finn,” they say, as they turn back to Tommy, a sly smile on their face. “And did you really think you were the first human to stumble upon a world like this?”

**Author's Note:**

> My writing here fluctuated between no writing done in a day & 3k in a day. I’m not as glad with this as I am, but this is already overdue the time that I set myself for, so here it is
> 
> Anyways Idots fans here is Content. If I got any personalities wrong..... I expected that but also ahahahhhh they’re,, they’re in a different setting and might have personality changes,, Ahha
> 
> anyways I am Out of Ideas for this specific au of mine so if you want to see anything from this au please leave a comment or something. I wanted to do something for fundywastaken but then again idk how to write romance and ships are kind of a grey spot? so that one was out.
> 
> also!! last one I promise!! If any of Mega’s sign language (which I used BSL for) is inaccurate in any way, please let me know!! 
> 
> uh, thank for reading, please tell me what you think of it!


End file.
